Friedman Be-Mini
- Thread starter ibzprestige
- Start date
NewWorldMan
Well-known member
I haven’t followed these very closely, so honest question here. Why would something like this be preferable to (for example) a used BE-OD Deluxe and EHX 44 Magnum, which basically gives you 2 footswitchable BE Mini channels (close enough at least) that you could fit on a pedal board for roughly the same price?
RaceU4her
Well-known member
Loop works flawlessly. I use my AXE 3 in 4CM with the mini and it is amazing.
dunno. my be deluxe is fucking great into the cleans on my Runt 20, Princeton or Orange CR120. basically gives you three channels.
i use it at 18v, which helps with some of the noise in the circuit. i keep the top green channel internal trimmer 75% of the way up. the bottom blue channel i keep internal gain near zero. set it up for more of a plexi-ish sound with the ability to tweak all those mids
for anyone that cares, i just A/B’d thr blue channel this way vs the smallbox pedal and the dirty shirley pedal. yeah they all three sound REMARKABLY similar in the low gain tones..... the BE deluxe having a lil less low end than the smallbox pedal, which has less low end than the dirty shirley pedal.
got the SB on amazon so itll go back, and im keeping the DS pedal (which i got used really cheap) to be the dirt for my little 3 pedal mini board that road trips with me.
Last edited:
since its solid state it should be quieter and less picky about popping relay footswitches by a mile
Carbon copy's not really made for loops. Any Digitech or Boss digital delay will be better in a loop.
agree. basically boss, strymon, or any other ”soft” or buffered switch pedals are better in the loops of these 20w guys... which is fine! plenty of options out there!
The only way to go with the Friedman pedals imo.
romanianreaper
Well-known member
You gotta remember not everyone in the world is as nerdy as us when it comes to tones
Speeddemon
Well-known member
Why do you think so? I run a Carbon Copy + RE-20 in my loop, when playing live and at home I use a TC Alter Ego V2 (also in loop).
I love how the CC never gets in the way of your direct tone. Used to have this quirky Korg 301dl Delay with a ducking feature, that was awesome. Same with the Line6 Echo Park, but eventually sold them. Not really going for pristine clean delays anyway, but even so, having a delay between guitar and an amp's input muddies things when using medium/high gain distortion IMO...I don't know how the guys did it in the 70's, before fx-loops were a thing.
After testing 1 along side a Strymon El Cap and Dig the Carbon Copy easily sounded the best.
Used it in the loop of a lot of the new lower wattage stuff from Bogner, Friedman, Marshall, and Mesa.
Big Mesa's too.
Hey, just noticed your JC-55! Had one ages ago. (couldn't afford the big boy at the time)
Anyone doing clones of those original Rolands?
Speeddemon
Well-known member
At one point in time I had the whole stereo set, including a vintage 120. See attached image (where the 120 is not on though),
The JC-20E is more of a gimmick than anything else, since the tiny 5" speakers lack any meaningful low-end.
The JC-77 is the best allrounder, best distortion too btw, FWIW. JC-55 has been my pedal testing platform for a long time and has the nicest formfactor IMO.
When you have the 120 and the 77, the weight of the 120 offsets any benefits in low-end and headroom for gigging, so to me it wasn't worth it.
The JC-85's were more modern 77 replacements, but lacked some of the magic chewiness in the chorus' tone.
Never tried the 'reissues' (JC-40 etc.). I kept the 55 more for nostalgia's sake, but it's still a fun little amp, and after finally finding a JC-120H head, the 24" width that perfectly matches my Mesa vertical 2x12 and Marshall 1966 cabs, the awesome tone and combined with the Hetfield-connection, I'm not getting rid of that either. Recapped the filtering caps in both, given their respective ages and I pimped them a little bit by adding a chrome LED bezel around the red on/off LED, to match the look of the JC-120 combo more.
Attachments
Last edited:
Now that you bring them up it was the 77 I had cause I couldn't afford the 120.
Don't remember much other than the chorus which was like freaking angels singing.
No wonder everyone picks the Boss CE-1 as the best chorus ever.
Your picture reminds me of Brian May and how he stacks AC30s.
TheGreatGreen
Well-known member
All that effort to put the BE-OD into a head format and the most novel thing about the BE-OD, the "Tight" knob, just gets a toggle switch, not a dedicated... knob?
D-Rock
Well-known member
I really don't think it took all that effort and it's a brilliant marketing approach especially during these uncertain and tough times for private businesses. This is going to be a steady stream of cash flow especially if he does this with other amps in his line as well in the future.
The toggles actually impact the tone a great deal. I don't feel any shortcomings or lack of options not having a dedicated dial for each them. It's very hard to get anything but a good sound out of this amp.
Bad.Seed
Well-known member
Were you behind the scenes on the development here? What's the effort you refer to with your inside knowledge?
TheGreatGreen
Well-known member
I mean, I have a BE-OD I really like a lot and the Tight knob is one of the most useful and unique things about it. It’s basically responsible for how versatile the pedal is. I’m just having a hard time understanding why a control that useful was limited to a toggle switch.
Would you guys respond the same way if the Treble or Gain knob was reduced to a toggle switch? Because to me that’s how influential the Tight control is on the BE-OD. It’s at least as important as the Treble and Gain controls I think.
Either way, I hope it’s successful. Friedman is a great company.
Would you guys respond the same way if the Treble or Gain knob was reduced to a toggle switch? Because to me that’s how influential the Tight control is on the BE-OD. It’s at least as important as the Treble and Gain controls I think.
Either way, I hope it’s successful. Friedman is a great company.
Last edited: